Natural phenomena such as lightning strikes, poor load distribution, improper wiring and in correct grounding issues are a few examples of the causes of power quality problems. Inverter-based technology has become more common in recent years, plus grid-tied renewable energy sources such as solar. These make the power network more complex and have a significant negative impact on power quality.

Power supply network problems caused by poor power quality is a common problem for both electric power suppliers and users. However, it is not easy to identify whether the cause of poor power supply quality is at the supplier’s system or the user’s system. Because of this situation, power quality measurement is necessary to understand the actual cause of power quality problems as well as to consider and analyze for effective countermeasures.
Poor power quality causes trouble in receptacle/transmission equipment and electronic equipment malfunctions. For example, harmonics are known to cause burn-out in reactors and generate defective noise in capacitors. Also, impulse or transient noise and voltage drops stop control systems that are dependent on a computer.

To minimize the risk of lost production and damage to electrical equipment, power quality analysis is used to monitor a system for problems, find the cause, and initiate corrective action. After system data is collected in the field following EN 50160 Standard, a power quality engineer will look for unusual events and determine the proper power conditioning equipment or other steps needed to resolved.